The present invention relates to trailers used for transporting walkbehind greensmowers between locations such as greens on a golf course.
Walkbehind greensmowers are used to mow or cut grass very accurately and precisely. Walkbehind greensmowers are reel type mowers, and cut grass with a shearing action between a stationary bedknife and the blades of a cylindrical rotating cutting reel. The cutting reel and bedknife are supported between front and rear ground engaging rollers. The height at which the rollers supports the reel and bedknife above the ground determines the height at which the grass is cut. This cutting height can be adjusted and controlled very accurately and precisely for cutting finely manicured turf areas such as golf course greens.
Golf courses include greens which define relatively smooth surfaces on which relatively short grass is maintained. These greens are often mowed daily with a self-propelled walkbehind greensmower. The various greens on a golf course are often separated from each other by several hundred yards, and therefore it is known to load the greensmower onto a trailer or in the bed of a vehicle and drive between greens to reduce the transport time between greens. Reducing transport time between greens increases efficiency and allows the operator to mow more greens in a shorter amount of time. Often two operators will be mowing greens together to further reduce the amount of time the greens are being mowed. Therefore a pair of walkbehind greensmowers are often transported simultaneously by the trailer or vehicle.
Typical greensmowers include a pair of tires that can be mounted to the central shaft of the rear ground engaging roller. The tires have a larger diameter than the rear roller and, therefore, when installed on the greensmower allow an operator to propel the greensmower about on the tires. This is generally quicker than walking the greensmower about on its rollers. Furthermore, use of the tires helps keep the greensmower properly adjusted at the desired cutting height, whereas transport over long distances on the rollers can tend to affect or alter the cutting height adjustment. When transporting greensmowers across relatively long distances such as between greens of a golf course, it is most desirable to transport the greensmowers in a trailer or vehicle, which tends to keep the greensmower in adjustment better than if the greensmower is walked between greens on its rollers or tires. Therefore, for the various reasons stated above, operators typically transport greensmowers between greens using a trailer or other vehicle. Some operators transport the greensmowers with the tires off, others transport the greensmowers with the tires installed.
Several different types of vehicles have been used to transport walkbehind greensmowers between golf course greens. Often an all-purpose trailer is used that has a flat bed. The greensmowers are walked up onto the flat bed of the trailer for transport. The greensmowers are generally not secured in any way, and can tend to bounce around on the bed of the trailer. This can cause the greensmowers to be jarred out of the preselected precise cutting height adjustment.
It is known to provide trailers that include mechanisms for securing the greensmowers in place on the trailer during transport. The latching operation can often be a relatively difficult or awkward procedure for an operator. Conventional trailers are typically designed to accommodate a specific brand and size of greensmower since the securing mechanisms are sized to latch onto particular portions of a particular greensmower. Therefore these trailers can generally only carry a very limited number of sizes of greensmower, and are generally not adapted for transporting greensmowers of different sizes and shapes. Furthermore, these trailers tend to be designed specifically for carrying the greensmower with the tires detached from the greensmowers. Conventional trailers are generally not adapted to transport greensmowers either with or without transport tires mounted on the greensmowers.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a greensmower trailer that is adapted to transport one or two greensmowers quickly between greens on a golf course. It would be desirable for such a trailer to firmly secure the greensmowers to the trailer so that they do not bounce around during transport and are not knocked out of their precise preselected cutting height adjustment. It would be desirable for such a trailer to be adapted for transporting greensmowers of different sizes and shapes, and with the transport tires either installed or removed from the greensmowers.